‘Pithe Puli’ fest featuring traditional Bengali winter delicacies turns a hit in Tripura

“Pithe and puli are the traditional Bengali rice cakes and sweets that hold a special place in winter harvest festivities. This three-day festival was aimed at reviving and showcasing the rich culinary traditions and cultural heritage of Bengalis, making it an unmissable event for food enthusiasts, culture lovers, and families alike,” said Joyshankar Bhattacharya, head of Totell Communications, an event management group, that has curated the ‘Pithe Puli’ festival which began on Friday.

Visitors feasted on the exquisite array of rice cakes and sweets made from locally-sourced ingredients like rice flour, jaggery, and coconut displayed at the over 15 stalls.

Debojyoti Saha, a medical representative, joined hands with his wife in their stall ‘Smoke of Longtrai’ where they put up a variety of traditional rice cakes as well as chicken and pork chunks on barbecue, with a lot of desi jugaad that involves a hair-dryer, a small electric table-fan and a ‘haat-pakha’ or traditional handheld palm-leaf fan.

His wife runs a cloud kitchen, ‘Smoke of Longtrai’. “We have been participating in ‘Petuker Samaresh’ – another local food festival for a few years. People have been coming here. They are checking out our items. We are very hopeful of getting food traction with these traditional cakes,” he said.

Likewise, Raja Debnath, a logistics executive, is happy to have received positive response from the visitors who tried out his variety of ‘pithe puli’ and other uncommon melange of products. His stall offered a range of products from cakes and pastries to ‘Wahan Mosdeng’ or indigenous pork salad ‘tohan mosdeng’ to chicken salad with ‘bangui’ to indigenous Tripuri sticky rice cakes.

“I know this is about Bengali traditional pithe-puli. But traditional Tripuri rice cakes are a sort of ‘pithe’ as well – in a way like our conventional cakes and pastries. We have sort of tried to expand the idea of a pithe-puli. People have been positive,” he said.

Chiranjit Roy, another medical representative, who had his stall at the festival said he does food business as a side-gig. He operates two cloud kitchens – one veg and the other non-veg with plans to shift into full-time restaurant business.

A stall by a group of women sounded interesting with its Bengali name ‘Khejure Alaap’, literally translating to casual gossip, blended with a bit of pun. ‘Khejure’ also refers to date palms and a syrupy jaggery made from dates in the winters.

Stall-hoppers also said they enjoyed munching pakodas and piping hot tea varieties at counters on a winter evening.

“It (kulhad chai) is a good tea and it was nice to have it with the traditional Bengali pithe. People tend to forget traditional cuisine and all. I feel this a great thing, especially in a city that’s trying to rise from being a traditional township into a major city,” said Manishankar Das, a post graduate student at Agartala.

In addition to culinary delights, the festival featured an array of traditional fashion shows, recitations, alpona (rangoli) competitions, cultural performances like folk dance and musical performances.

The event was presented by Mukti Sangha, in collaboration with Amar Tripura and curated by Agartala Events For You, a new venture by Totell.